For Good Reasons
by CanaanAlshea
Summary: Yusuke Is Forced To Interrogate Kurama...


_Title: For Good Reasons_  
_Author: CanaanAlshea_  
_Summary: Yusuke Is Forced To Interrogate Kurama..._  
_POV: Yusuke_

"...This isn't right."

Koenma sighed, looked up at me from his place across the narrow, dim hallway. We were less than two feet apart. "I know that," he said softly, "But either way, he broke the laws-"

"So do all the demons I bring in," I snapped, whispering.

"-And in doing so, he broke his parole. And as his technical parole officer, as I assigned you as back when he took the Forlorn Hope...I'm sorry, but it's your responsiblity."

"...You want me to put him on death row? After all he's helped me with, all we've been through together? Because if that's the bullshit you're spouting you can arrest me too. I aint doing it."

"I'm not suggesting that," he raised his voice, sighed, lowered it, "Not yet. I don't know what we're going to decide. He's not going to some spirit torture chamber or limbo. It could be-"

"Life behind bars," I scoffed, throwing my cigarette into the bin, "Which, you know as well as I do that if you lock Kurama up it's going to be the same thing as death. He won't survive in a cage."

"...Just talk to him."

He was leaning against the wall when I walked in, the heavy locks slamming behind me. The room was small, made of stone with energy-locking seals all over the wall. In here, we may as well be humans. His white hair glowed in the dim light, golden eyes glinting with anger and sadness.

"So," he sighed, leaning his head forward in greeting, "He sent you. I thought he would."

"Says I have to," I sat down, ruffling my hair. I was pissed, "Parole officer bullshit. Forgot I was, technically..."

"Yes," Kurama smiled bitterly, "So did I."

"...You wanna call Hiei?" His husband; hard to believe when I first saw them they were at eachother's throats. Five years ago.

"No," he moved fluidly to sit in the chair across from me, lacing long fingers under his chin, "He knows I'm here. We'll hear him should he decide to raise hell against Koenma."

"Ok," I leaned back, reached beside me to make sure the video was recording; it usually was in this room, "Anything you want to tell me before we have to talk business?"

"...If the sentence imposed is one which would prevent me from contact," he whispered, smiled softly and with honesty, "Please tell Hiei I love him." I nodded.

Kurama closed his eyes then, took a deep breath, "The air here is stale," he mumbled, "So, where should I begin?"

I sighed.

"When did you decide to kill him?"

He smiled, bitterly, "What makes you so sure it was premeditated?"

"Because you don't do anything on impulse, and you don't do anything half-assed, which is why we're here. When did you decide to kill him?"

"...Last month."

"Why wait so long?"

As he grinned, his sharp canines glinted, "I had to be certain I actually wanted him dead. And I had to plan it out very carefully; couldn't have my mother witnessing the crime and wind up in jail as an accomplice, now could I?"

"Why'd you kill him?"

"You know why," he whispered, calm dissolving quickly into anger.

"Tell me again."

_FLASHBACK_  
_No one could hear the noise in the streets. Because no one was listening. If they were, they chose to ignore it, as they had been doing for months. _

_It was September 19th, and no one was listening._

_"Kazuya!" Shiori screamed, ducking to avoid the frying pan that came toward her; it crashed against the wall, leaving a dent, "Please, stop, just talk to me-!"_

_"I'm done talking," he slurred, kicking a chair out of the way, "Stupid bitch."_

_Kurama came through the front door, slamming it behind him, forgetting to remove his shoes in his haste to reach the kitchen. "Kazuya!" he called out, "What the hell do you-"_

_The hand came flying at him, a fist against his cheekbone, temple, ribcage._

_"Shut your mouth! You don't have any fucking idea what you're talking about, you dumb bastard so just stay out of this!" _

_"Suichi!"_

_She stood, rushing toward her son only to receive a shove backward; her back hit the counter and plates crashed onto the linolium. Glass scattered._

_"Suichi just go to your room," she gasped, wide eyed, trembling, "I can handle this."_

_"I can't do that..." His mother's eyes widened; her gentle son...his voice was cold, eyes narrowed into daggers in the dim light. "Suichi...please."_

_"Listen to your mother, boy...this doesn't concern you."_

_"Shut up," he snarled. His eyes, rimming gold, snapped over to the woman cowering against the pantry door, "Mother, get out of here. Get to a payphone, and call the police."_

_"Baby...you can't-"_

_"NOW!" Her eyes widened impossibly more, never having heard her gentle son speak with such harshness. Intent was murder. "...Be careful." She turned. The door slammed behind her._

_"So," Kazuya smiled, blood shot, drunk, "Think you can step up now, try to be a man?"_

_"I'm done talking."_

_His arrogance dissolved in seconds into fear. His gentle stepson's features twisted into something like a grin, teeth glinting. Cold eyes. "Su..ichi?"_

_Kurama shook his head._

_The human had no time to react._

_A forearm slammed into his throat, magnets falling from the fridge with the force his body struck it. "I've stood by for too long, Kazuya, letting you hurt us for fear of my own redemption...not anymore. The hell with my soul," his grin widened, hair draining into white, "I know yours will not be going anywhere pleasant...and that is enough for me."_

_The scream wouldn't come out of his throat._

_"What are you...?"_

_"My name is Kurama. ...You won't be alive long enough to tell anyone." The yoko's claws grew quickly, body shifting to become a foot and a half taller than the man who had been terrorizing his mother. All semblance of humanity vanished, and his father found himself at the mercy of a demon. _

_His throat sliced easily. Blood sprayed against the wall. He staggered back, gripping his wound, gurgling sickly, unable to make words. "Wha..."_

_Yoko Kurama broke his breastbone, squeezed his heart until _

_it stopped._

_"I'll see you in hell..."_

"...So that's it?" I bit my lip. 'I can't let him go to jail over this.' "You killed him to save her?"

"Essentially," my white-haired friend shrugged carelessly, leaning back in his chair, "I couldn't leave his punishment to the human law enforcement, now could I? We both no how easily abusers get off, after all. And who would believe us? ...He drank with the cops. Used to be one."

"And your mom?"

Kurama smiled bitterly, "She doesn't know. I made sure to wipe her memory. As far as she's concerned, he left a note, ran off in a drunken guilt. Suichi," he sighed, inspecting his claws, "is off at college right now, in her mind. I haven't quite figured out how to explain my disappearence to her. Perhaps Koenma will sort that out in my sentencing, yes?"

I ran my hands over my face, exhausted and pissed off and confused, "I dunno. I guess I can request that. Can't say for sure if he'll do it..."

"...Do you think I deserve to be punished?"

I looked up, startled. He wasn't smiling anymore. There was a certain sadness in his eyes, the face of a man knowing he was damned.

"I can't tell you that."

The smile came back, sad, he closed his eyes, "Of course not. That would be siding with the enemy, wouldn't it? You're not allowed to tell me anything regarding your personal opinions on my case..."

I looked at the recording. Fuck that.

"I think I'm going to quit this fucking job if Koenma decides to give you anything but a slap on the wrist over this. I'd say fine if he increased your human-world probation but as far as I'm concerned, you saved your mom. That asshole deserved to die and if I had been there I'd have helped you kill the fucker..."

Koenma's voice broke in, "Yusuke. Get out here."

I scoffed, looked across the table at one of my best friends who was probably never going to see the light of day. "Right. Duty calls," I rolled my eyes, "Be right back, 'Rama." He smiled knowingly.

I slammed the door behind me, "What?!"

Koenma glared, more pissed off than I'd ever seen him, "What the hell was that, Yusuke? You can't talk to an inmate-"

"This is KURAMA we're talking about!" I roared, "Did you even talk to him? Ask him what HIS side was? Because as far as I'm concerned, he was more than justified in killing his stepfather, and in doing so, he saved his mom. Doesn't that count for anything in this fucked up judicial system?"

"...No."

So that was it. Killing is killing here; it's all the same. He broke some fucked up probation. My friend was going to be sent to some fucking torture chamber for eternity for a justifiable murder. "Bullshit," I growled, punching the wall behind me.

I looked up to see Kurama being led out of the room in cuffs. He looked up, smiled at me with those dead eyes.

So...I couldn't get him off. "If you won't change your mind," I said coldly, "Then I resign. Consider this my last day. Because unlike Kurama, this was my choice." Koenma's eyes widened, looking shocked and somehow disappointed, "You can't-"

"The hell I can't," I stepped closer, less than two inches from his face that I badly wanted to bash in, "I quit. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go visit with the man you just killed...see ya."

"That was foolish, Yusuke," Kurama sighed from behind the bars. I shrugged, leaning against them, "Who cares. I'm not going to sign your death warrant. He can have that on his shoulders."

The Yoko smiled softly, standing to come closer. "So what will you do now?"

I smiled back, reached in to clasp his hand, "I'm going to stay here. For as long as I can."

The shadows crossed his pale face. I saw no fear or regret. He squeezed my hand.

"I'll miss you."

"You too man..."

We did what we had to.

And it was all for good reasons.


End file.
